


Stolen Moments

by Fafsernir



Series: Vax Machina [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Discussion of Death, Episode: c01e065 The Streets of Ank'Harel, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Romance, Stolen Moments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25806724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fafsernir/pseuds/Fafsernir
Summary: Glimpses of Vox Machina, mostly focused on Vax and his mental journey (starting in Ank'Harel, exploring the next few weeks, possibly later too). A lot of Vaxleth, a few Vax & Vex moments, and Vax with each of the members eventually.
Relationships: Keyleth/Vax'ildan (Critical Role), Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III & Vax'ildan, Pike Trickfoot & Vax'ildan, Raven Queen (Dungeons & Dragons) & Vax'ildan (Critical Role), Vax'ildan & Vex'ahlia (Critical Role)
Series: Vax Machina [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872244
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Continuing on my Vax/Keyleth inspiration and writing more stolen moments between them...  
> These will not all be linked but they do happen chronologically, mostly following Vax's thoughts and some stolen moments with Keyleth, as well as the other members of Vox Machina.  
> This one is set shortly after Keyleth embraces her love and they start spending their nights together regularly. This is the first night in Ank'Harel, when Vax shared his bedroom with Grog, and Keyleth with Vax.

Vax turned in his bed, almost in rhythm with Grog’s snoring. It was background noise by now, as he had travelled with the goliath for so long, and it wasn’t what was keeping him awake. If anything, it usually helped him sleep, now, lulling him into the reassuring feeling that this big mountain of muscles was right there, next to him, ready to jump on his feet and smash whatever attacked them. It had its cons, but it was reassuring to be in Grog’s group.

No, what kept him awake was the absence of warmth next to him for the first time in what felt like an eternity. It really hadn’t been long, he had only slipped into Keyleth’s room a couple of times, and Vex had caught him on the very first night. It didn’t matter, though, now that he knew for sure where they stood, he wanted to be by her side every night. It helped with the nightmares, it helped with feeling better, it helped with living the dream of sharing such special moments with the woman he loved.

He had already become addicted to sleeping next to her, to waking up next to her, to sneaking away in the night as she still slept, leaving a kiss on her cheek or the top of her head before he did so. It was an easy habit to pick up, and it felt weird to know that he couldn’t. It was what they had chosen, how they had discussed it, but he hadn’t thought it would come so quickly. He wished they were in the mansion right now.

Vax’ildan looked at the ceiling. There was no point in trying to sleep: he couldn’t. 

He sighed, still in rhythm with Grog’s snoring as he exhaled a particularly long snore, and turned one last time in his bed before getting up. He rubbed his face as he made his way to the door, silently walking on the floor, quietly opening the door, and slipping away from the room, unnoticed. He didn’t go far, simply walked outside the room, and leaned against the wall next to the door. He stayed there for a few minutes, playing with the dagger he had taken with him. It helped to think and to clear his head, the blade a natural extension of his hands by now.

He was still struggling with the whole shit show their adventures had been for… for a while, now. The Raven Queen had never been at the top of his deity list when he had started to seek information about deities and had tried to find answers in a direction he had never walked towards before. And, to be honest, she hadn’t offered many answers, so far. More questions, for sure. He was new to all this, and he didn’t understand a lot of it. He hoped it would come later on, but he wasn’t sure it would be the case. He wished Pike was more with them on their travels, as she knew more about all of this than he did. He had never asked exactly what praying to a deity was like, how much that deity answered, whether being that champion of a deity meant something or not. It probably did, but he didn’t know what.

He also thought about the Conclave, their progress so far, and the road left to walk. The endgame he was waiting for. He hoped he would stay alive for that, he truly hoped he was going to be able to face Thordak, to be here when he finally perished under his friends’ blows. He didn’t expect to survive the encounter, but he would die trying. He would die trying to avenge his mother’s death, would die trying to right a wrong in the world. It seemed to line up with what the Raven Queen expected of him, as well. At least, he thought it was the case. He wasn’t sure, though.

He thought a bit more, about everyone in the group, about Vex and about Keyleth, mostly. He stared at their room’s door and he wondered if they were both sleeping sound. The two women, the two human beings he cared about the most…

After a while, he made his way back to the room, putting the dagger back down, and lying in bed. He did rest for a bit, although he didn’t sleep much.

When he heard the sound of a door being opened, he shot up in his bed, and almost jumped on the ground. Instead, he took his time to be stealthy and silent, and opened the door. He almost gave up on any attempts to be sneaky when he saw familiar red hair in the hallway.

“Kiki,” he whispered, and the woman turned around.

Vax was struck once more by how beautiful she was, how her large smile when she saw him illuminated the whole room and his whole life. He noticed once more her flaming red hair, and long stature who didn’t leave a doubt about her elven origin, and her green eyes, the same colour of the vines she mastered so often around her.

And all Vax could do after closing the door behind him was stare at her, unable to stop his face from forming a smile.

“Hey,” she whispered, meeting him halfway between their bedrooms. “What are you doing here?”

He stared a bit more at her, because that was all he could do, sometimes, then blinked it away, looking behind her for a second. “Couldn’t sleep,” he admitted, looking back at her, his hands coming up to rub her arms, to feel her presence, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “You?”

“Same,” she whispered back, looking over his shoulder as well.

“Grog’s snoring, he’s not going to wake up soon,” he offered as reassurance, and it seemed to instantly relax her, because she nodded, then pecked his lips for the briefest moment. “Hey,” he said, his smile creeping back up.

She giggled at his reaction, and he almost blushed, ashamed of how dumbstruck he felt and was. But, at the same time, he wasn’t ashamed, because that was the only way someone could react to her, right? She was so beautiful that being kissed by her at night in a hallway, with most of their friends sleeping only a few feet away from them could only make him react that way.

“I missed you,” he admitted under his breath, instantly wondering whether he should admit that or keep it to himself. Was it too much?

“I missed you too,” she answered, and all his doubts faded away, even if just for a moment.

They hugged for what felt like hours and seconds all at once. It felt long but when they parted, Vax already missed it and was sure it had only been a handful of seconds. He rubbed her cheek with his thumb and smiled brightly as she leant to kiss him, definitely for a longer time than the first peck.

They stood in the hallway as long as they could, whispering to each other about Ank’Harel, talking about the city, about Shaun’s parents, about this entire new place they had never visited. They mentioned how they both were curious and would love to see more of the city, especially Keyleth, her eyes shining with that sparkle of curiosity and amazement that Vax loved so much. They knew they were not here to get an experience of the city as outsiders, because they had a purpose. They talked about them and about the party, avoided talking about the Conclave. They didn’t stay too long that they wouldn’t be able to rest, but they stayed long enough that when Vax closed the door to his bedroom, after one last hug and after taking Keyleth’s scent fully in again, he lay in bed and fell asleep almost instantly, a smile curving up his lips as he finally found his way to the land of dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a small glimpse at Keyleth and Vax slipping away for another stolen moment while they were in Ank'Harel. And Scanlan's very poor insight (and just generally bad time) when they were there.

“Kiki,” Vax said, bumping her shoulder with his own. 

“Yeah?” she half-heartedly answered, blinking as she stared into nothing.

Scanlan and Grog were still outside, somewhere in the streets, the rest of the group was inside. Keyleth had stepped out, and Vax had discreetly broken away from the group to check on her.

“I know it’s hard but… Why do you drink so much lately?” he almost whispered, and smiled shyly when she asked him what he had said. She frowned as she understood what he had said, right after asking.

“I don’t want you to tell me what to do,” she answered, starting to cross her arms.

“No, no,” he quickly said, moving his hands to emphasize his point. “That’s not what I meant. I… you do what you want, Kiki. I just worry. Is there something I can do to help?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to read him, and he let her read him like an open book. He didn’t try to hide his worry, he didn’t try to hide how much he cared about her. He just wanted her to be okay, and she had been drinking a lot during the day lately. He didn’t know how he felt about this, if he should feel anything about it. Was it a sign she was not doing alright? Could he not help her? Was she just having fun?

“I’m fine,” she answered, but she didn’t snap at him or discarded him. She took his hands, smiling and nodding. 

He smiled back and gave in the hug when she wrapped her arms around him, taking a deep breath as he burrowed his nose into her neck. She chuckled against him, one hand in the hair at the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to worry about this,” she whispered into his ear, and he nodded, tightening his arms around her.

“You know me,” he answered after a while, and she laughed as they parted.

She nodded knowingly and patted his cheek, then kissed him on the same spot. “Do you want to head back inside?”

They laced their fingers together as they joined part of the group, even if they dropped the other’s hand almost instantly, for the others not to see them. Vax worried a lot about everything, and he knew it didn’t always make sense, but he just wanted everyone to be alright around him. Especially now that he was himself feeling better and better. 

From the street, Scanlan grinned at the scene and made a mental note to ask more about this at some point, were he to find someone to talk about that with. It looked to him like Vax and Keyleth were teaming up and plotting something. Someone as insightful as him could see through their game, though.

Grog, on his part, saw them and shrugged it off instantly, not really preoccupied by it. He knew exactly what was going on, or had a rough idea of it, but he couldn’t care less about that. They did what they had to do, as long as their family didn’t break apart because of this. Vax had been different lately, he had noticed, and he seemed to be better with it. Whether it was thanks to Keyleth, Grog didn’t really wonder, but if Vax changed in a way that was not good, Grog could always do something then.


End file.
